3 European foreign ministers barred by Israel from visiting Palestinian towns in Area C

An Israeli soldier mans a checkpoint at the closed-off southern entrance to the southern West Bank city of Hebron, on August 22, 2023, a day after a deadly terror shooting in the area. (Hazem Bader/AFP)
Illustrative: An Israeli soldier mans a checkpoint at the closed-off southern entrance to the southern West Bank city of Hebron, on August 22, 2023. (Hazem Bader/AFP)

The Foreign Ministry prevented three visiting foreign ministers of European countries from entering certain Palestinian towns in the West Bank in recent weeks.

The foreign ministers of Ireland, the UK and Norway all visited in recent weeks and requested to visit Palestinian towns in Area C of the West Bank, which is controlled by Israel, and were denied access, according to a report in Walla News today, citing two European diplomats.

“After consulting with security officials, we decided not to allow them into specific sites, not all of Area C,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman tells The Times of Israel, confirming the report.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited Israel in mid-September, about a week after Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, both of whom met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Norway FM Anniken Huitfeldt — who is frequently vocally critical of Israel — met with her Israel counterpart, Eli Cohen, in Jerusalem in mid-September, but did not meet with Netanyahu.

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